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Phil Webster

All of my work stems from one core impulse: to celebrate the inherent beauty of mathematical forms. These forms appear all around us—in trees and crystals, in dunes and flowers, in ancient temples and modern skyscrapers. Rather than directly depict these outer manifestations, I explore the abstract forms underlying it all—polyhedra, fractals, tessellations, lattices. There is something sacred in the creation and viewing of these forms that allows me to meditate on the infinite patterns present in the deep structure of our world.

Since traveling to India in 2012, I have been particularly focused on blending traditional Islamic motifs with polyhedra and fractals. The results are distinctly Islamic in flavor but with a modern twist.

Islamic 10-fold Fractal Loops

50 x 50 cm

Digital print

2018

The basis for this work is a 10-fold Fractal Islamic Pattern that appears in its entirety 21 times. This original pattern has global and local 10-fold rotational symmetry around each rosette. Rosette centers occupy the nodes of 10 fractal quaternary trees, which are pruned at the sector boundaries. The original central star is replaced by an inward progression of the same fractal diminution.

Then, since each 1/10 sector has mirror symmetry along its radial edges, sectors can be recombined in opposite orientations to form looping chains. The final design includes one large, snaking loop (again with 10-fold symmetry), as well as 3 inner decagonal loops.